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“I already told you,” he ground out, clambering on top of me. “I’ll never let you go.” He placed his hand around my throat again, this time applying pressure right away. “I’ll never let anyone have you. Not the cartel, and definitely not Ford.” He grinned and wound his arm back again. “I made sure to take care of that one, though.” His fist hit my eye a second time with so much force it caused the world to spin. Everything was blurry, and my body was giving in.
I turned my head to the side, staring into the cabin, and something shiny caught my attention.
The gun.
The gun he’d used to shoot Leopold. And now it all made sense. It was the sound of the silencer going off that had woken me up. He’d said he needed to clean the kitchen, but what he really meant was he needed to dispose of the body—dispose of Leopold. He was trying to get rid of the evidence. And as I turned my head and stared at him, I had no doubt he’d do the same to this baby once it was born. He’d talked about us being together, just the two of us.
But there would never be a two of us. I’d fight to the death, even if it meant I had to kill someone.
I bucked and tried to catch my breath, but the pressure was too much. My arms extended, and I winced at the twinge of pain in my wrist. But I couldn’t stop, so I continued to reach any piece of his body I could claw my nails against with my good arm. I made contact with his face and felt for his eyes, then dug my thumbs in as hard as I could. He squealed, causing his hands to move off my neck, but I didn’t stop.
It was him or me. Fight or flight.
I scraped my nails down his face and bucked at him. He swayed to the left, and I crawled out of his grip and grabbed on to the screen door. I yanked it open, crawled a couple of feet inside, and pulled myself up using the kitchen counter. My hand reached for the gun, and I screamed as he threw himself onto me, slamming his fists into my side and my face, not letting up for even a second.
But it was okay, because cold metal skimmed the palm of my hand, and I gripped on to it.
“You fuckin’ bitch!” he bellowed, and followed it up with another hit to the face, this one was harder than the rest, and I saw stars. I wasn’t sure where I was or what was happening, but I knew I had to get out, and there was only one way I’d be able to do that.
“I hate you!” I screamed, trying to look at him, but my eye was swelling fast, and everything was blurry.
I whipped my arm down, pointing the gun straight at his head, and he stared at me for a millisecond. His cold eyes didn’t believe I’d pull the trigger, but he was wrong. He may have taken away everyone I cared about, everyone who I was close to, but he would never hurt my baby.
I pulled the trigger.
The silencer muffled the shot.
The kickback made me cry out from the pain in my arm.
Blood smacked me in the face, along with brain matter.
But his eyes had lost focus, and I didn’t look away as the life drained from him, and his body sagged half onto me and half onto the floor. I kept the gun in one hand as I rolled him off me. The strength I’d managed to conjure up from somewhere was quickly waning as the blood pooled around his head, his eyes still open and focused on me. I crawled back, staring at his body, which was halfway in the house and halfway on the front porch. The screen door was hanging off, blood covering most of it.
I tried to stand, but my legs wouldn’t let me, so I continued to crawl away until my back hit the sofa.
I’d taken his life. I’d stopped him. But in the process, he’d stolen a piece of me I’d never be able to get back.
Chapter Five
BELLE
I wasn’t sure how long I stared at his body, watching the blood flow out of him, but I needed to make sure he was dead and wasn’t going to get back up again. I held the gun in my hand, my grip as tight as it could be. My only option had been to use his own weapon against him.
The longer I sat there, the more pain took over. My body was aching in places I hadn’t
realized he’d hurt, and my face was swelling up so much I couldn’t open one of my eyes at all now. He’d made sure to leave his mark, I just wasn’t sure whether it was permanent or not yet.
My hand drifted to my stomach, and the baby kicked in response. I needed to get checked out, not just for me, but for the human growing inside me. Curtis had made sure to throw his fist into my stomach, blow after blow, and I needed to make sure the baby was okay. The kicking had me a little relieved, but it didn’t mean everything was okay. Not yet. I considered calling Dr. Ponts, but I vetoed that idea right away. There was no way I could ask her to come here and help me, not with the dead body lying in the doorway.
I needed help, I just didn’t know who to ask—
I gasped and cursed at myself. I didn’t need to sit here, debating what I should do next. I knew exactly what I had to do, so I used the back of the sofa to pull me into a standing position, readying myself for what I was about to get myself into. There was only one person I could call that would help me right now, and even though I knew he was hours away, there wasn’t a single doubt in my mind.
Backing out of the room slowly, I cradled my one arm against my chest and held the gun up with my other hand, just in case. I had no idea what could happen that I’d need to use it again, but I knew I was alone—for now anyway—which meant I had to protect myself. I darted into my bedroom and yanked my cell off my bedside table where it had been charging, and went back into the living room.
Curtis’ lifeless body was still there, so I pressed my back against the wall near the hallway to our bedrooms and slid down it until my ass hit the floor. I unlocked the cell and glanced at it long enough to bring the number up, then pressed call and focused my attention back on the lifeless body.
I listened as the dial tone rang several times, and then a deep voice said, “Easton.” I closed my eyes at his voice, not having heard it for nearly six months now. It called of home, and I wished more than anything that he was beside me right now, offering the protection he’d always given me. But this time, I needed to ask for it. “Hello?” he asked, his voice deeper now.
